Total bill for ousting Portage Superintendent Marsha Wells: $319,328

Kalamazoo Gazette FileIt cost Portage Public Schools more than $319,000 to buyout Superintendent Marsha Wells, but that figure will be offset by savings created by restructuring among the top spots in the district.

That includes the cost of Wells' buyout agreement, the legal expenses, the interim superintendent search and an independent
audit requested by the board.

However, some of those costs are being offset by at least $183,000 in savings from a re-organization of the district's top
administration prompted by Wells' departure.

In addition, at least one $22,500 expense and potentially a second cost are ones the district would have been incurred even
if Wells had stayed through the end of her contract and retired in 2012, as her supporters suggested. The $22,500 involves
part of the $272,000 spent to buy out Wells' contract, and is designated to purchase one year of service credit for Wells
in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

School Board President Kevin Hollenbeck said it's tradition for Portage to purchase a year of service credit for a departing
superintendent. "That would have been paid anyway," regardless of when Wells left her job, Hollenbeck said.

In the same vein are the costs to find Wells'
replacement. So far, the district has spent $4,500 on an interim
superintendent
search, which resulted in the appointment of Richard Perry,
Portage's assistant superintendent for instruction. The board
will decide in the next six months or so whether to launch
a search for a permanent replacement, which is likely to cost another
$25,000 to $30,000. But if the board keeps Perry as superintendent
without another search, then finding Wells' successor would
turn out to be less expensive than would have occurred under
normal circumstances.

In addition to the $272,500 to buy out Wells' contract and the $4,500 bill for the interim superintendent search, the other
costs incurred by the controversy include:

-- $26,902 for legal services;

-- $3,878 net cost for an outside audit
requested by the board when questions were raised about Wells' pay. The
audit found
that Wells received $2,122 in overpayments in her paychecks
between July 2010 and February 2011 because of unauthorized raises
processed by the district's business office. Wells said the raises
occurred without her knowledge, and she reimbursed the
district. The audit cost $6,000, but part was recouped through
Wells' reimbursement;

-- $11,548 for the district's share of Social
Security taxes related to Wells' settlement. Board members thought the
settlement
agreement was written to preclude those taxes, but federal
officials disagreed. However, state officials ruled that the settlement
did not trigger an additional contribution to the state retirement
system.

On the other side of the equation are the savings that will result from administrative changes triggered by Wells' departure.

On July 1, there will be a change in the top
three positions in the school district. Perry will step into Wells' job,
his
current position will be open, and Tom Noverr, the assistant
superintendent for operations, is leaving the district to take
another job.

Perry does not plan to fill his current job for
now; rather, those duties will be divide among four other
administrators. Noverr's
position will be filled part-time by Rob Olsen, who is retiring as
superintendent of Sturgis.

While Noverr's departure is unrelated to the Wells controversy, it's unlikely Olsen would be coming on board if Wells was
still in place since the idea came about because he was a candidate for the interim superintendent job.

The administrative changes are likely to result in savings of at least $180,000:

-- In 2011-12, Perry's base salary will be $145,000 plus a $14,500 annuity, compared to Wells' salary of $155,040 plus a $12,000
annuity and a $6,132 car allowance -- a savings of about $13,600 for the superintendent's post;

-- The total cost for Noverr's position was
$195,000 in 2010-11, including Social Security and the mandatory
contribution
to the state retirement system. By contrast, Olsen will be
part-time and he will not receive benefits. Although the cost of
his contract has yet to be determined, Olsen can't earn more than
$35,000 for the remainder of 2011 and is limited to a maximum
of $70,000 for calendar year 2012 under rules set for school
officials who took the state's 2010 retirement incentive. So
even if Olsen is paid the maximum amount, the savings would be
$90,000 for that position;

-- Perry received the same compensation this
year as Noverr. Instead of spending $195,000 on that position in
2011-12, Perry
is budgeting $115,000 to provide stipends to the administrators
who will divvy up his current tasks and for teachers who will
fill in part-time for principals who are filling in for Perry. The
estimated saving in not filling Perry's post: $80,000.

The cost of the buyout has upset many in the Portage community, and contributed to the defeat of Hollenbeck and board Vice
President Melanie Kurdys in the May election.

"It is what it is," said Hollenbeck, who leaves office June 30.

He said he anticipated some offsets in the buyout expenses, such as hiring an interim superintendent for less than Wells'
salary.

But with Perry's appointment and subsequent reorganization of top administration, Hollenbeck said, "the offsets are undoubtedly
much bigger than we expected — which is great."